The holiday of love is fast approaching, and shelves are running low on chocolates, flowers, and oversized cards with poems no one really cares about.
I don’t know about most people, but compared to those things, I’d much rather something practical from my love on Valentine’s Day. Something that says “I love you babe” but doesn’t sit in my freezer for months or wilt in a vase after a few days.
And what says “I love you” better than a heart-shaped box of pizza?
When I saw Pizza Hut brought back its Valentine’s Day bundle this year (Heart-Shaped Pizza + HERSHEY’S® Triple Chocolate Brownie or Ultimate HERSHEY’S® Chocolate Chip Cookie) it sounded to me like the perfect gift for literally anyone on Valentine’s Day.
Which got me thinking, why was it so perfect? Sure, we know Valentine’s Day is a day of chocolates and sweets, but why is pizza a part of the love fest?
Pizza to most Americans today is that dependable, feel-good food that’s always delicious at a party with a side of wings. Dough, tomato sauce, cheese, and then the sky is the limit.
But pizza has not always looked this way.
Pizza means so much more than the familiar savory circle in a box we’ve come to know and love. Its history spans the world in space and time.
Since ancient times pizza in the middle east was considered to be just flatbread baked in mud ovens. Places like Greece and Rome coined the practice of adding toppings to the mix.
The pizza that comes to mind today, however, is just as much of an Italian dish that most people generally believe. Its roots in the United States are thanks to the passing of tradition from Italian immigrants migrating in the early 1900s, and since then it has become somewhat of a staple in the American diet.
But then what is it that makes pizza so universal?
From young to old, health crazed to living lax, pizza resonates with the hearts (and stomachs) of people from all walks of life.
There are so many resources to detail how pizza became popular in many places around the world, but not many explain the “why”.
IFLScience writer Tom Hale gives some insight into the reasoning behind the typical pizza’s addictive nature.His pizza article shares a study done by The University of Michigan that concluded that the high doses of fat in most processed foods, including pizzas, are highly addictive.
And oh, the cheese!
What may be the tell-all factor of pizza’s universal love is the ingredient in cheese called casein, a protein that effective dopamine in the body, inducing feelings of reward and addiction.
So pizza’s not only delicious, it’s addictive.
Another reason could be the sheer customizability of the dish. It’s impossible for someone to dislike a pizza they could put all of their favorite foods on. Hence why we can have healthy pizzas like “Blackberry Ricotta Pizza with Bazil” and not-so-healthy “Meat-Lovers” pizzas.
In short, perhaps the reason everyone loves pizza is that it has looked and can look like basically anything people want it to. I am convinced there is no one on earth that doesn’t love pizza, so be smart this Valentine’s Day and buy your crush a box.
If you find yourself with someone who says they don’t like the cheesy delicacy, maybe they just haven’t found the right slice.